The first thing Yin Long saw as his consciousness faded away from that arid plain wasn't his surroundings but actually the inside of his soulsea. At first glance, everything looked the same, the silvery-yellow ocean of Qi, the blackish-yellow sky of Netherworld energy, his rainbow-coloured sword-shaped soul, none of them had experienced a change. Even the shivering leech and quiet leaf that had been given to him for this championship were the same as previously.

But upon closer inspection, he noticed that there were indeed some small changes. Looking at the different sections of his soul, the green and blue sections were still completely dim and lifeless, the red, yellow, silver, and black sections gleaming as brightly as always. But the final section, the purple one, had changed faintly. It hadn't lit up like the four others, but it wasn't as dim as the two dark ones, it was as if there was a small firefly tucked away within it, desperately working to stop it from going dark.

His consciousness had shut down almost instantly, but he could still remember that the small object that flew into his chest had merged into this purple section. He couldn't see the object now that it had merged into his soul, and prodding that particular section didn't produce any result so he didn't currently have any way of knowing if that tiny spark of light had brought about any changes, only time would tell that.

He easily put aside that topic for the moment and focused on the second change he had noticed in his soulsea, his focus drifting towards the handle of his sword-shaped soul. This handle had previously been bare, the only exception being the scaled leaves that had appeared on his soul after he reached the Immortal Doors realm. But now an additional thing had appeared there, a deep and weary eye had placed itself above the scaled leaves.

The eye wasn't unfamiliar to Yin Long, it looked exactly like the three eyes that had opened on the arid plain, the eyes that had called him a blank parasite. But this lone eye didn't contain any of the jealousy that the three eyes held, it was filled with a strange mixture of ancient weariness and youthful excitement and curiosity.

Yin Long wasn't self-aware enough to know it, but that youthful excitement and curiosity it showed was a perfect replica of the look he himself had whenever he could learn some new sword techniques. His consciousness touched upon the eye to see if he could communicate with it, but the only answer he got from his attempts was a single drawn-out word.

"Dra...Go...N..."

Yin Long couldn't help but feel like sighing as that lone word continued to reverberate throughout his soulsea. He couldn't interact with the purple section and this freshly sprouted eye didn't seem like it was interested in conversation, or even capable of it for that matter. He had gained several more questions and curiosities but was also once again faced with no way of answering those questions, there were just far too many unknown factors tucked away within him.

He swept his soulsea once more to make sure he hadn't missed anything, making a mental note of the number of points that had gathered within the terrified leech. He wasn't too far away from being brought to the first arena so it seemed like his final fight against that elder had scared a handful of the disciples that had previously still been confident in fighting him. Once he was certain that there were no other changes, he pushed his consciousness out of his soulsea and opened his eyes.

"There we go, you finally bothered waking up."

The first thing that met Yin Long when he opened his eyes was the somewhat sultry voice of Xiao Yin Yu. Green leaves, long vines, and dark brown branches covered the sky above him, the air that reached his lungs humid and heavy with the scent of vegetation. He could tell that he was currently lying on his back, the earth soft thanks to the humidity of the jungle they seemed to be in right now.

"How long was I out? And do you know what exactly that little object was?"

Yin Long expected his body to be somewhat stiff, but to his surprise, he felt perfectly fine as he sat up. There wasn't an aching bone in his body, he actually felt so light and refreshed that he could have sworn he had just gotten a full-body massage. But as his gaze swept the surroundings, he quickly realized that this sensation was definitely limited to just him.

Jin Wang's state wasn't too bad, but a bit of the fur on the left side of his chest had darkened strangely, a few thin streaks of blood running down and staining his fur. Yin Yu, however, was in a much worse state. Her left arm had traces of a large gash, as if something had cut her vein open. It wasn't bleeding currently, but it was clear that she had already lost a lot of blood thanks to it.

But even so, the right side of her body was in a state that could only be described as disastrous. Her entire arm, parts of her neck and torso, as well as her entire right leg, all the skin there had turned so dark that it looked diseased. Blisters and sores covered every inch of the skin, it was as if she had been completely roasted.

"What happened? Did someone else attack after I lost consciousness?"

His expression sank darkly as he questioned, Yin Yu had already been fighting several elders, and it couldn't possibly have gotten easier when he fell unconscious. Especially when he considered that she had gone out of her way to save him and drag him to safety, she would definitely suffer far more injuries if she tried to fight like that. But contrary to what he expected, Yin Yu grimaced and spat somewhat bitterly, and a touch viciously, in response to his question.

"What happened? You did. We had just barely left the spatial array when your body suddenly exploded forth with some strange yellow energy, carrying you was like carrying a lump of poisonous fire. Had it not been for your friend helping me I fear that my entire right arm would have been beyond saving by the time I found a somewhat secluded spot. If I didn't know that it was something done unconsciously I may have thought that you were trying to kill me while I was weakened."

Yin Yu had wanted to throw Yin Long aside the moment the energy burst forth from within him, but seeing that he was still unconscious she gave up on that idea. Perhaps it was just his instincts acting up, or something hidden deep within his body surging out to protect him from something, but whatever it was, it hadn't been voluntary.

Yin Long couldn't help but look somewhat awkward and apologetic when he heard the truth, quickly offering his sincere and honest apologies. He couldn't confirm it, but he had a guess as to what that yellow energy was. It was likely tied to the moment where the three eyes shot light at him and filled him with that omnipotent might, it may not have been something entirely mental.

Yin Yu wasn't really mad at him, it wasn't like he had wanted to merge with that object and faint, nor had he wanted to unleash that energy. As such, she accepted his apology and continued to smear a bright blue ointment on her blistering skin, circling back to his first questions.

"As for how long you've been out, we're entering hour seven now I believe. And that little object was the key fragment that the Swordsoul Guardians were defending, you won't believe how pissed they were when you took it. But don't bother asking me why it came to you or how to use it, I'm as ignorant as you are when it comes to that."

She didn't mention what she had done to ensure their escape, nor did she speak about the extremely valuable object she had thrown out. She originally wanted to squeeze him dry for value in return, but as they fled, she learned that there would be no worth in it. Or rather, she would never get the chance to do so.

"You've woken up now so you should leave, the faster the better honestly. Someone's going to be coming here, and that person is not someone we can go against. He really doesn't seem like he wants to let his prize go so he made sufficient preparations ahead of time, thorough bastard. I don't know when he'll come, but I can guarantee you that he will come."

She spoke quite casually, her tone not really carrying much emotion as she continued to smear the paste on her wounds. But Yin Long could see her fingers quiver softly, a hint of desolate hopelessness hidden deep within her voice. But what a shame it was that it was already too late to chase Yin Long away, it had already been too late for a while actually.

"Come on now, Dear Yu, it hurts me a little when you speak like that. But I'm glad, it seems like this little boy isn't your secret lover, learning this really makes it worth sticking around. Really allows my heart to rest easy."

The sudden voice that came from only a short distance away caught both the people and the beast in the area by surprise, Yin Yu's heart dropping to the pit of her stomach. The dense jungle a few steps away from the group shimmered softly, revealing a young man who didn't look any older than Yin Long.

The youth had short yellow hair, but the hair was a bit dark, almost muddy in colour. He had sharp and handsome features, his crimson eyes gleaming with unconcealable majesty and might, he seemed to radiate a sense of arrogance and pride that had already been ingrained into his very bones. Yin Yu's expression sank awfully fast, turning both gloomy and helpless as the yellow-robed youth appeared.

"Tao Tiankong, so you had already arrived. And here I thought that the buzzing of the array only meant that you had been alerted of my state, but it seems like I was wrong."

Yin Yu stopped applying the paste to her ruined skin, her hand unconsciously tracing her abdomen as she grimaced. Contrary to her grimace, Tao Tiankong was all smiles, he looked as if he was walking through a field of flowers on a sunny day.

"Yup, the buzzing actually means that I've arrived within the surrounding 100-kilometres. It really does seem like we're fated to meet, you actually ran right to me as you were fleeing blindly. It warms my heart, Dear Yu, it really does."

It really had been nothing more than coincidence, she had picked a spatial array at random and ended up arriving close to him. But sometimes that was all it took, a single coincidence to determine destiny, a single stroke of good or bad luck. And Yin Yu knew that this was a terrible stroke of bad luck, because while Tao Tiankong was only 49 years old, he had already reached the 6th Skyborne Door, he was a true blue monster of a genius. But even so, even if it was futile and she knew that she had to surrender to fate, she still wanted to at least show a bit of symbolic defiance.

"Don't call me that, it makes me want to hurl."

She grimaced disgustedly at the intimate way he was calling her, her weak left arm shooting upwards as a dagger appeared in her grasp. The dagger wasn't aimed at Tao Tiankong but rather at herself, it would go right through her throat in just an instant. But sadly, Tao Tiankong had no plans of allowing that, waving his finger while wearing an expression of exasperated sadness.

"Ah ah ah, please don't do that, I can't bear to see you get hurt."

A faint yellow light appeared on Yin Yu's abdomen, in the spot she had unconsciously rubbed earlier. An array surfaced on her skin, her arm instantly freezing in place and denying her even the chance to end her own life. It was this array that she had saved the previous treasure for, but it would only be able to erase the array once it activated, so she couldn't use it before she actually met him again and made him activate it.

But that treasure had been thrown out to ensure that she and Yin Long could flee, so there was no longer any way for her to escape this imprint. Tao Tiankong flipped his hand, the dagger Yin Yu was holding vanishing strangely, only the empty handle falling to the ground.